Winter weather still in forecast for most of UP

LEE-ANN GARSKE, of Ironwood, cleans off her car on Aurora Street in downtown Ironwood during a blizzard Wednesday. Mother Nature decided to throw a late season storm across much of the Midwest.

Spring weather conditions are expected to return next week, but don't put that winter coat away just yet.

"You're still going to have some chances of snow in the western Upper Peninsula, even into late afternoon, before it's pretty much over in the evening," Jim Salzwedel, a hydromet technician at the National Weather Service in Marquette, said.

Wednesday, snow was falling at a rate of about two and a half inches in a five hour period, with a total amount expected to pile up around 13 inches, Salzwedel said.

"Everybody just wants (the winter) to diminish because it was so cold," he said. "We were below normal snowfall here, and now we're catching up to normal."

There was 1.5 inches of snowfall reported at 7 a.m. Wednesday, pushing this season's total to 179.9 inches. Last year's total reported snowfall at this time was 182.8 inches.

A record high temperature for today's date of 82 degrees was set in 2002, and a record low of -8 occurred in 1983.

Today's temperatures won't be as extreme, as area residents can expect a high of 36 degrees and a low of around 20.

Temperatures are expected to stay the same for Friday, but there will be a gradual clearing of cloud cover. Saturday will see slightly warmer temperatures with a high in the low 40s and partly to mostly cloudy skies.

Salzwedel said it will feel better on Sunday, with temperatures stretching into the mid-40s or 50s, and shift toward more seasonal weather next week.